WHAT THE MAN IS
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Thursday, 7 January 2016
MURDERERS
i live in a world full of murderers: murderous governments, murderous armed forces, murderous law enforcement agencies, murderous religious fanatics, murderous gangs of criminals, murderous youth gangs, murderous individuals, murderous psychotics, even murderous workplaces, highways, bars, nightclubs.
sometimes i wonder if there is something wrong with me, that it offends me so.
behind each murderer is an investor who profits from the crime. there is some general agreement among most public societies that the taking of a life is wrong. what about profiting from murder? about the killing business? about the accretion of wealth and power through supporting murder? is there general agreement about that? or is it considered just another economic activity, a legitimate countable positive addition to the GDP?
sometimes i wonder if there is something wrong with me, that this also offends me so, that people, individual people, allow themselves to profit in this way.
sometimes i wonder if there is something wrong with me, that it offends me so.
behind each murderer is an investor who profits from the crime. there is some general agreement among most public societies that the taking of a life is wrong. what about profiting from murder? about the killing business? about the accretion of wealth and power through supporting murder? is there general agreement about that? or is it considered just another economic activity, a legitimate countable positive addition to the GDP?
sometimes i wonder if there is something wrong with me, that this also offends me so, that people, individual people, allow themselves to profit in this way.
Sunday, 3 January 2016
REAL AND NOT REAL
whether a book is fiction or nonfiction is not interesting. what is useful to know is whether the book attempts to get at something real — YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN; CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY; A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN; THE PLAGUE; THE PICKUP — or whether it is not real — HARRY POTTER; STAR WARS; ALL THE LIGHT YOU CANNOT SEE, and many many others. that is what should be categorized and clearly labeled for the reading public, not because real is inherently better — many people gain much from fantasy and other suspensions of reality, much more than i do — but because it is a more useful distinction to make in identifying a work for a potential reader. it is the underlying, original intention of the author from which every aspect and experience of the book in the mind of the reader will derive.
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